Ballad
A weedling wild, on lonely lea,My evening rambles chanc’d to see;And much the weedling tempted meTo crop its tender flower:Expos’d to wind and heavy rain,Its head bow’d lowly on the plain;And silently it seem’d in painOf life’s endanger’d hour.
“And wilt thou bid my bloom decay,And crop my flower, and me betray?And cast my injur’d sweets away,”--Its silence seemly sigh’d--“A moment’s idol of thy mind?And is a stranger so unkind,To leave a shameful root behind,Bereft of all its pride?”
And so it seemly did complain;And beating fell the heavy rain;And how it droop’d upon the plain,To fate resign’d to fall:My heart did melt at its decline,And “Come,” said I, “thou gem divine,My fate shall stand the storm with thine:”So took the root and all.
Words in this poem
- idol n.
- An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballad is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #52601; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Clare, Ballad, in Poems (1820–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/clare-poems/ballad.html, id L06666.
Form and metre
Ballad is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AAABCCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AAABCCCB leaA · seeA · meA · flowerB · rainC · plainC · painC · hourB
- 2 AAABCCCB decayA · betrayA · awayA · sigh'dB · mindC · unkindC · behindC · prideB
- 3 AAABCCCB complainA · rainA · plainA · fallB · declineC · divineC · thineC · allB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A weedling wild, on lonely lea, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My evening rambles chanc’d to see; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And much the weedling tempted me | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To crop its tender flower: | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Expos’d to wind and heavy rain, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Its head bow’d lowly on the plain; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And silently it seem’d in pain | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Of life’s endanger’d hour. | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| “And wilt thou bid my bloom decay, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And crop my flower, and me betray? | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| And cast my injur’d sweets away,”-- | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Its silence seemly sigh’d-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| “A moment’s idol of thy mind? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And is a stranger so unkind, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To leave a shameful root behind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Bereft of all its pride?” | 6 | ˘/···· |
| And so it seemly did complain; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And beating fell the heavy rain; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And how it droop’d upon the plain, | 8 | ········ |
| To fate resign’d to fall: | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| My heart did melt at its decline, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And “Come,” said I, “thou gem divine, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| My fate shall stand the storm with thine:” | 8 | ········ |
| So took the root and all. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.